College Football Week 8 Predictions: Ole Miss/Texas, Utah/Hou, Tenn/So.Car and more

Week 7 showed us what a wonderful sport College Football can be with 5 of the top 7 losing, the most shocking was Auburn winning in Athens. Week 8 features two ranked versus ranked matchups, along with a mulitiple interesting spots for the favored teams. We’ve already seen a few quarterback changes, for example at Michigan. Will we see Texas, Oklahoma, or a few other possible programs that don’t care about how much a player is paid and make a move? Let’s get ready for another week and hope we see even half the mayhem we got in week 7.

Marquee Matchups

#7 Ole Miss vs. #19 Texas: The Longhorns back is against the wall heading into an important SEC scrap against the Rebels. Ole Miss’s defense surprisingly stiffened up in a blowout over Missouri last week. Can Texas regain confidence on offense against a defense that has shown it can give up points and yards? Texas will likely be without their best defensive player, Colin Simmons, on Saturday night. The Longhorns will need to apply pressure to disrupt Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss and the Rebels’ offense. College Football is getting tougher to predict, and this is one reason we love the sport. Everything tells me to pick Ole Miss, but Texas is in a must-win spot at home and is due for a bounce back. That said, it’s difficult to feel good about this pick.

DraftKings

4.5/5

Tip: Bet Texas -3

• Manning to play well
• Ole Miss defense to struggle
• Texas at home

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The Pick: Texas -3

#10 Utah vs. #14 Houston: The Cougars have won 4 in a row after losing a very winnable one to Texas Tech. Utah damn near got caught looking ahead to this Big-12 tilt, barely beat Colorado in week 7. Both teams have explosive offenses, averaging 220 yards on the ground and 79 points per contest combined. That generally equates to whichever team can execute in the redzone and come up with timely turnovers. Oklahoma State and Texas Tech are the best teams on either schedule. Can Houston get up once again and win on the road?

FanDuel

4.6/5

Tip: Houston +6.5

• Utah wins straight up
• Utah struggled last week
• Close Game

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The Pick: UTAH wins but the pick is Houston +6.5

Under The Radar

#11 Tennessee vs. South Carolina: Some may ask how the hell is Tennessee the underdog this week after clearly defeating the Crimson Tide. South Carolina did play well against a healthier Mississippi State, lost to a red-hot Kentucky in overtime, and just handled a now struggling Florida squad last week. Week 8 is about spots, and this is a hangover spot for the Vols with such an emotional win over Alabama. The Gamecocks have a better offense while Tennessee is better on defense. The Vols defense will get hits on the QB, and force turnovers is the reason to pick them here.

Caesars

4.4/5

Tip: Tennessee +2.5

• Vols defense to be the difference
• Close Game
• South Carolina Trap Game

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The Pick: Tennessee +2.5

#6 Indiana vs. Michigan: The Hoosiers will be ready to take out their anger from a heartbreaking loss to Ohio State. Michigan made a change at quarterback, benching Bryce Underwood and starting Tommy Carr. But will that be enough? After two competitive outings versus Northwestern and Nebraska, Indiana wasn’t able to pull the Buckeye loss out. Michigan put up 21 points in the second half against Penn State. Now let’s see if they can carry that momentum this week. Look for Indiana to pull away in the second half but not crazy about the point spread.

BetMGM

4.5/5

Tip: Indiana -7

• Hoover to play well
• Michigan to struggle to score
• Indiana Allows 75.4 Team Rushing Yards Per Game

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The Pick: Indiana -7

Saturday Upset Special

Tulane wins as a minor home dog at +2.5 versus UTSA.

Duke wins as a slight road dog +2.5 at Virginia.

Hardcore Barnburners

#16 USC vs. Wisconsin: USC’s offense is one the best in the country, but their defense has been the ongoing issue in the Lincoln Riley era. Wisconsin hung with Notre Dame for a half and gave unbeaten UCLA all they could handle last week. Can USC finally look like a contender on the road?

The Pick: Wisconsin +3.5

New Mexico vs. North Dakota State: This is a huge game with plenty at stake within the Mountain West Conference. New Mexico’s only loss was to a stingy defense in Oklahoma. The Bison looked mediocre two weeks ago in a loss to UNLV. The outcome will be on the table deep into the 4th quarter.

The Pick: New Mexico –4.5

Against The Spread

West Virginia +9.5 versus TCU.

Pittsburgh +20.5 versus #1 Miami if the weather is as bad as it looks.

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Quick Hits Recap

-Auburn QB Bryum Brown ran for 115 yards and scored two touchdowns in a shocker of an outcome over Georgia 27-24.

-Ohio State lost QB Julian Sayin for a reported several weeks but did manage to pull off a road victory at Indiana 19-15.

-Indiana had gone 1,487 offensive snaps without of lost fumble before losing two fumbles in the third quarter.

-BYU beat Notre Dame 28-24 in a controversial fashion last Saturday night. Some pointed to a no-call pass interference, regardless the Irish should’ve been granted the 1 second left on the clock.

-Tennessee RB Deshaun Bishop had 159 rushing yards and two touchdowns as his Vols beat Alabama 26-10.

-Miami needed two overtimes and a bad holding call to finish off their rival FSU 43-35. The Hurricanes outrushed the Seminoles 257 to 138.

-Ole Miss surprisingly able to outrush Missouri last week to the tune of 257 to 39. Kewan Lacy rushed for 122, and Mahki Frazier rushed for 101 yards in the 31-3 beatdown.

-West Virginia QB Michael Hawkins Jr threw for 464 yards, rushed for 77 yards, and had 5 total touchdowns in a 45-42 win over Cincinnati.

Written by Chris Carlson Host of The College Ball Show available under  The Rope A Dope Radio Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker, I-Heart Radio, Amazon Podcasts, Tunein, Deezer, Podchaser, Castbox  & More! Follow on Twitter @RopeADopeRadio